1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image correction apparatus, an image correction method, a skin diagnosis method, and a computer program product. In particular, the present invention relates to an image correction apparatus, an image correction method, a skin diagnosis method, and a computer program product, which enable a skin of a person in a captured image to be corrected to look beautiful, and are for use in skin diagnosis.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that, when linear polarized light is reflected on a surface of an object, the polarization direction of the irradiated light will be maintained. In addition, when irradiated light enters inside an object before being reflected off, it is known that the polarization direction rotates according to the progression of the light inside the object thereby causing the resulting reflected light to have a different polarization direction from the polarization direction of the irradiated light. By making use of this light reflection characteristic in capturing an image of a person, it becomes possible to perform image capturing by emphasizing the state of the skin of the person.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-323013 discloses a skin surface observation apparatus for observing a skin surface, by causing S-polarized light and P-polarized light to be incident onto a skin independently from each other, and by receiving S-polarization component and P-polarization component included in light reflected from the skin in response to each incident light. Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-200050 discloses a skin color measuring apparatus for measuring a color such as a melanin component using the internal reflected light from which the surface reflected light is excluded by making use of the polarization.